How Is Your K-12 School Handling the New Title IX Requirements?

Written by: Danise Kimball , Senior Manager of Consulting

When I was a teacher at a K-12 school, autumn was a season of settling into new rhythms: understanding the students and their dynamics with each other and me, parent-teacher conferences and principal observations, bus line duty, lunch duty…?

But this fall brought a new and important change to the rhythm for teachers and, indeed, for all schools.?

As of August 1, 2024, schools have new Title IX requirements for ensuring gender equity and safety from sexual harassment and other forms of sexual misconduct.?

Safeguarding Students

Experiencing sexual assault or harassment is always traumatic, but it can be especially difficult for youth.?

Compared to previous Title IX guidance, the new guidance clarifies the school’s responsibility by closing loopholes and placing a greater expectation on schools to actively address potential misconduct.

RAINN Consulting Group partners with schools to develop programming to prevent sexual misconduct and to build systems for managing incidents of sexual misconduct in a fair, equitable, and trauma-informed way.

Understanding the New Title IX Guidance

The new Title IX guidance raises the bar for educational institutions by providing greater protections against a range of discriminatory behaviors and increasing schools’ responsibility to respond to reports and address discriminatory or harassing behavior.?

Increased & Clarified Protections

Previous guidance did not spell out in detail that homophobic or transphobic harassment was explicitly a violation of Title IX.

The new Title IX guidance clarifies that all harassment on the basis of sex, sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, sexual orientation, and gender identity is illegal and must be prevented by schools.?

Reinforcing Adult Responsibilities

The new guidance provides clarity around the responsibility of adults working in the school.?

Before, adults were only expected to act when they had actual knowledge of Title IX violations. The 2024 rules require employees to contact the Title IX coordinator when they have information that rises to the level of “reasonable” suspicion that discrimination may be occurring.?

This change places more responsibility on teachers, administrators, and other school employees to ensure equity. It limits claims like, “I wasn’t 100% sure,” or “I heard second-hand.”?

By explicitly holding every adult in a school accountable for preventing sexual harassment and sexual assault, the new Title IX goes a long way toward promoting greater safety.

Redefining Participation

Another improvement is that the new regulation prohibits discrimination that limits participation in a program or activity.?

Previously, the rules prevented discrimination that prevented a student from participating in or benefiting from a program or activity. Some schools interpreted this to mean that so long as a student had some access to or benefit from a program, discrimination did not rise to the bar of a Title IX violation—even if their participation was limited.?

This update closes that loophole, so all students can expect to participate fully and access the full benefits of a program.

A Prompt Response Process

The previous guidance required that schools receiving a complaint not show “deliberate indifference ” by ignoring a complaint or letting it drag on for months.?

The new Title IX rules require schools to respond promptly and effectively using a fair, transparent, and reliable process.

Prevention

Schools are also now expected to take steps to prevent violations from recurring and to remedy their impacts on students.?

Prior to this update, schools only had to show they weren’t discriminating. Now, they must show they are proactively preventing discrimination.?

Hopefully, this change will yield more awareness and educational efforts for students and families, more professional training for faculty and staff, and a shift towards the mindset that creating safety from sex discrimination and misconduct is an obligation that schools take seriously.

No Retaliation

Schools are expected to ensure that a student filing a report does not experience retaliation.?

Retaliation can include formal actions like removing a student from a club or team, requiring them to change classes, and curtailing their access to academic support. However, it can also be informal, like tolerating faculty or staff comments that target a student or failing to proactively address bullying by other students.?

Off-campus Behavior

The new Title IX guidance explicitly clarifies that schools are responsible for ensuring a student’s safety from sexual harassment, bullying, and other behaviors that impact their education—even when they occur off campus. This gives schools the responsibility to take action when a student feels unsafe at school and to address situations when off-campus behavior or incidents impact their ability to access educational opportunities.?

Title IX Readiness Checklist for K-12 Schools

Given these new responsibilities, schools have significant work to do. Just as students are expected to do their homework, schools are expected to know the law and ensure that every student has a safe and equitable education.?

You can play an active role by learning about the new Title IX updates and how they apply to your school, asking questions, and pressing for full implementation of the rights and protections that all students deserve.?

Here’s a checklist to get you started:

Sexual misconduct is a sensitive, challenging issue, but every organization should be prepared to assist survivors.

Whether your organization is facing a current crisis or simply wants to strengthen its systems, RAINN Consulting Group is ready with solutions for every industry.

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Explore RAINN Consulting Group’s anti-sexual violence best practices for business and community leaders.?

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, you are not alone. RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline offers free, confidential, 24/7 support for survivors and their loved ones in English and Spanish at 800.656.HOPE (4673) and via chat at hotline.RAINN.org and in Spanish at RAINN.org/es .??????????????????